About those rings, and old things in general

I'm currently being amused by the thread on the rings in the old photo of a coach. I'm sure than any passenger how rode that car regularly back in the day knew what they were for and basically ignored them as a normal pert of day-to-day life. I'm also certain that whoever had the job of keeping them clean and shiny would be overjoyed to know that they went away.

To give a personal note on this kind of change, my late mother's (born 1924) 2nd least favorite chore as a young girl in the 1920's & 1930's was churning butter. For those who don't know, this is like making ice cream by hand in that the closer you get to done, the harder you have to work. I still remember one day on vacation in about 1970 we were in Payson, Arizona and Ye Olde Antique shop had a churn outside on the sidewalk with a $120 price tag on it. Mom's response was that she wouldn't pay a dime for the thing, said with a venom that was *very* uncommon to hear from her. Now I (born 1961) knew what a churn was but had, and have, never used one. I suspect that to most members of my child's (born 1987) generation (whatever that is) it would be a complete mystery. That's the way these things go.

BTW, Mom's least favorite chore? Cleaning the chimneys on the oil lamps. It was messy, fussy work and she was always afraid she'd break one and get in trouble. It bemused her that all three of her kids liked oil lamps for atmospheric reasons (We always had a few around in case of power outage) and would use them when just hanging out with friends. We had to clean them ourselves though.

Things that were common become mysteries over time.

hank